By John Denton
Dec. 6, 2016
WASHINGTON, D.C – They had to hit the road for nine straight nights and travel nearly 5,000 miles, but the Orlando Magic just might have flipped the script on their fate with what could ultimately go down as a season-defining five-game trip.
Traveling to San Antonio, to Memphis, to Philadelphia, to Detroit, to Washington, D.C. and finally back to Orlando – 4,947 miles to be exact – the Magic bonded together on the floor and off it and compiled an impressive 4-1 record that was six minutes shy of being a perfect 5-0.
Considering how the Magic played on the trip, and how they throttled the arch-rival Washington Wizards 124-116 on Tuesday with a complete performance on both ends of the floor, it’s hard to imagine this being the same Orlando team that was five games below .500 and riding a four-game losing streak a little more than a week ago.
The Magic made that poor start a distant memory by routing the Spurs and rebounding from the devastation of the collapse in Memphis with resounding defeats of the 76ers, Pistons and Wizards. On Tuesday, the Magic (10-12) rode the hot hand of point guard Elfrid Payton (a career-best 25 points), built a 20-point third-quarter lead and withstood a furious onslaught from Washington point guard John Wall, a long-time nemesis who scored a career-best 52 points.
Nothing, Payton said, was going to slow down the surging Magic on Tuesday, Payton stressed.
``It means a lot to show a lot of character and fight through that adversity from early in the season,’’ said Payton, who made his first nine shots of the game and hit three 3-pointers, while also handing out nine assists. ``We’ve just got to keep it up.’’
Orlando’s 124 points were easily a season high, topping the 119 scored in Oklahoma City three weeks ago. The Magic’s balanced and highly efficient offense was simply too much for Wall and the Wizards (7-13). They shot 51.8 percent for the game, drilled 12 3-pointers and placed seven players in double figures in scoring.
``We’re growing on that end of the floor,’’ said Magic coach Frank Vogel, whose offense has been much more productive since he changed the lineup six games ago. ``We didn’t play well early in the season, but some of the guys are finding their spots and I’m finding ways to use them. The balancing out the units has helped the starting unit and the bench unit and we had several great contributions, starting with Elfrid Payton coming in off the bench and having the game of his life. He was terrific.’’
If that strong offensive play wasn’t enough, Orlando also swatted 13 shots and tried making things as difficult as possible on the cat-quick Wall, who made 18 of 31 shots, five of eight 3-pointers and 11 of 14 free throws to top his previous best of 47 points.
In the end, the one-man performance couldn’t take down a Magic squad that worked well together on both ends of the floor.
``Guys are playing together and we’re just having so much fun,’’ said center Bismack Biyombo, who gave the Magic 14 points, 13 rebounds and three blocked shots. ``Winning or losing (early in the season), we stayed together and we’re coming in now and joking around. And it’s fun right now to see guys playing together the way we are. We’re also getting more assists, which means that we’re trusting one another more. … We’ll learn from our mistakes and live with the results.’’
Payton didn’t back down from his matchup against Wall, scoring eight points in his first 90 seconds on the floor and making his first nine shots in the game. He topped his previous best scoring night ever of 24 points from Nov. 18, 2015. Vogel talked of Payton ``having so much pride’’ after being moved to the bench six games ago, but the point guard said he’s just trying to use the physical gifts that he has to help his team be successful.
``I’m just doing as much as I can with what I’m given,’’ Payton said, referring to his playing time off the bench. ``God gave me this (talent) and I want just try and continue to use what he gave me.’’
Jeff Green, a native of suburban D.C., played well off the bench again with 20 points. Magic big men Serge Ibaka (10 points, five rebounds and four blocked shots), Nikola Vucevic (10 points, 10 rebounds and six assists) and Biyombo were dominant on both ends.
``(Vogel) stresses when we get blocks that’s a super green light to go down on offense and be super aggressive. We’ve always known we could be a defensive monster and we’re starting to put that into effect,’’ said Magic forward Aaron Gordon, who had nine points, five rebounds and three blocked shots. ``This (recent success) is big because it’s tough to win on the road, but now we’ve got to go and handle home court.
``We’ll see (if the team has turned a corner),’’ Gordon continued. ``As nice as these wins have been we need to stay level-headed and stay focused on what got us here. … The camaraderie in the locker room and on the bus, it’s great. We have some great players and some great characters. We want to uplift each other and have fun.’’
Jodie Meeks (18 points and four 3-pointers) and Evan Fournier (10 points and two 3-pointers) did the rest of the damage from the outside as Orlando gashed the Wizards in nearly every way possible.
For Meeks, who was playing in just his third game after needing a third surgery in the past year to repair a fractured bone in his right foot, the performance was especially impressive. He drilled five of seven shots, four of five 3-pointers and all four of his free throws in 16 minutes.
Vogel, who is in his first season in Orlando, preached patience early in the season as the squad was still learning to play together after adding nine new players over the summer. Vogel, who arranged team-bonding junkets in Philadelphia and Washington during the nine-night odyssey, was asked before Tuesday’s game what capping the longest road trip yet would mean. He sounded like a coach who is far from satisfied with a run of solid play on a five-game trip.
``We have a lot of ground to make up. We’re (now two) games under .500 and the East has a lot of teams capable of making big pushes,’’ Vogel said before the game. ``I still think that .500 is not going to get you in the playoffs, so you’ve got to be better than that.’’
Tuesday’s victory gave the Magic a 2-1 lead in the season series against the Wizards, something that could come in useful if the two teams are fighting for a playoff berth in mid-April. The victory was also significant because it was Orlando’s first in Washington since Feb. 29, 2012, a 4 ½-year stretch where it lost nine consecutive games in D.C.
Orlando ended a 12-game skid to Washington in early November, but that was a game where Wall was rested. He returned when the two teams played a second time on Nov. 25 and Washington won. But Tuesday’s result gave Orlando the upper hand on its Southeast Division rivals once again.
``I did mention that to our guys that we dropped one at home to these guys and we need to get one back,’’ Vogel said of the showdown against Washington. ``We need to win a game in this building this year to at least even the series, and hopefully you get two here and you can take a 3-1 lead. I think (the Wizards) are a good team. They don’t have a great record yet, but they have two All-Star level guards and they’re very well-coached, so I think they are a team that could definitely make a push and be one of those teams that we’re competing with for a playoff spot.’’
Tuesday’s game might have been the end of the Magic’s road trip, but it was also the beginning of one of their most difficult stretches of the season. Including Tuesday’s game, Orlando will play four games in five nights – something that the NBA schedule-makers have worked to eliminate. The Magic will host the Boston Celtics on Wednesday at the Amway Center and then hit the road again for a game in Charlotte on Friday. The exhausting stretch will conclude with another home game on Saturday against the Denver Nuggets.
The Magic played nearly flawless basketball in the first half and they continued it deep into the third quarter. When Ibaka swatted a Marcin Gortat layup and Biyombo dunked on the other end, Orlando held a commanding 78-58. Washington would rally behind Wall – who had 34 points in the first three quarters – but the Magic still took a 96-81 edge into the fourth.
Orlando was dialed in on both ends of the floor in the first half and took an impressive 65-52 lead into the locker room at intermission. Payton came off the bench midway through the first quarter and immediately went on the attack. He throttled the Wizards for 22 first-half points, coming within two points of his career high point total in just 16 minutes on the floor.
Unlike so many times before through the years when Wall would rob them of momentum, the point guard’s last-second layup attempt was swatted out of the air by Biyombo to preserve the Magic’s 13-point edge at halftime. The swat was part of seven blocked shots in the first half by the Magic with Biyombo, Ibaka and Payton each turning back two shots apiece.
The strong finish allowed the Magic to properly cap a strong trip that proved something to both themselves and the rest of the basketball world.
``It’s one of those trips where we can look back and see our potential,’’ said Gordon, who had a dunk-contest-worthy double-clutch, reverse slam in the second half. ``We’re very capable offensively and defensively and we’ve proven it to ourselves. Now it’s a matter of how bad we want it and how bad we want it to continue.’’
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